First: Before a book-fan gets really excited about how “finally an adaptation will be close to the books!!1!” Amazon’s plan for LOTR is to make it their Game of Thrones. Gritty realistic grimdark LOTR. As much as PJ and co changed the book….at least they didn’t try to force LOTR to have a tone that was wrong for it?

Second: One thing that’s great about LOTR is that it isn’t a “.theme park” franchise. Harry Potter and Star Wars and Marvel are “theme park” franchises- if you make a billion-dollar Star Wars amusement park, Star Wars has to stay relevant. So “theme park franchises” have to continue. They make new movies because they have to. Yes, these movies have all been pretty awesome (I love the new Star Wars movies) but….they’re not “special” anymore?

Like: Disney plans to release a new Star Wars movie every year. Everyone went nuts over Episode 7 because wow another Star Wars movie! And everyone got excited again over Rogue One because wow another Star Wars movie! And everyone’s excited again over Episode 8 because wow another Star Wars movie! But….it’s going to get old. In December 2021 Disney will have made more Star Wars movies than George Lucas. And some of those movies will be duds. And one day you’ll look up and think “oh yeah, it’s December, Disney has another Star Wars movie out or whatever” and not care like you used to. And that’s not bad, it’s just….eventually it’s going to feel like “butter scraped over too much bread.”

And that’s why I –personally– dislike the idea of an LOTR TV show so soon after PJ’s LOTR/Hobbit adaptation especially when your only plan to differentiate it from Jackson’s adaptation is “make it Game of Thrones”. It’s just that even with the Hobbit films, the LOTR films still feel…special? And I don’t want it to be re-adapted so often that it stops feeling like a story and starts feeling like a product.

TL, DR: The fandom will survive. Let the franchise die with dignity pls